The Puffer Forum

Hi all again,

Today I tried a prawn, a mussel and a clam. No joy with any of them. Even soaked them in garlic for a while too.
He has not eaten for about 3 days that I know of now properly.

I am still running my tank 100% fresh water (15 days now) should i start to introduce salt to try and help things.

I am really worried, i know if i put blood work in he will eat it though?

Its a 60 ltr tank and I have done a 15% change every other day too and hover all the rubish up

Did you try some live earthworms?

earth worms and blood worm will be eaten, im just worred that he wont eat anything which will keep this teeth down

And does he ignore snails totally?

well thats the thing, i put approx 5-6 snails (approx 5mm) into the tank the other day and left them in there over night. when i got up the shells were in the same place as they were when i went to be and stayed that way for the next day without any movement. they were from the local pet shop

pufferpuggirl wrote:Did you ever try the Jungle Parasite Clear for internal parasites?

Ok, who are we talking to here?

Rocket, keep offering up the other foods. Stand fast on not giving him bloodworms for a while, these guys can go for a long time with out eating, I've had some go for a few weeks before he ate other things. If he was getting bloodworms in the LFS, more than likely that's what he is going to want and not want to be adventurous, you need to make him want to eat them and not give him the option of his "comfort food".

You say the shells of the snails you are feeding him are in the same place in the morning. Feed them to him again and in the morning fish out one of the shells and crush it. It very well could be that he is sucking the snail out of its shell when you're not looking and leaving the shell whole. My littlest GSP does that and the bigger one crushes everything.

Rocket I don't think you need to treat for IP's at all right now. There are no other signs that he has them and that could turn him off other foods for longer.

Soggy, I split your posts out to a single so both [problems can be handled on their individual merits.

I was referring to Mr Soggy

That's what I thought, that's why I split it, that's why I had to clarify it.

Also, I have read and been told that while puffers love snails...sometimes they won't go through the trouble of breaking them if they are not super hungry..like if they have had their regular meal..they are not starving so they will take the time to pick out the snail.

And..sometimes I think they are not moving because they are dead..I do not know much about snails but if the haven't moved in a long time..days or weeks..I think they are dead.. I am no expert on that though. But, once I went to my lfs and my mystery snail had died (still miss him, had him for a long time), so I was looking for another one..so the lfs took me to a tank where all the snails "trapdoors" had fallen off and the snails were obviously dead...I said, "those snails are dead".."oh no they are not!".."Pick one up and see" "Ok...these aren't dead..they just aren't moving and the little doors fall off all the time"..Point is..the lfs can sell you dead snails...because they do not know anything about them.

Perhaps if they are dead your puffer does not want them??

Hope your puffer feels better

again fantastic help,

Dadof4 wrote:That's what I thought, that's why I split it, that's why I had to clarify it.

You're a better man than I. I find splitting to be an impossible task.

Dadof4 wrote:It very well could be that he is sucking the snail out of its shell when you're not looking and leaving the shell whole.

My F8s do this all the time. Depending on the type of snail, the shell may be a bit more translucent after the mantle is sucked out. Try to keep the whole snails that you offer about the size of your puffer's eye, or even a tad smaller.